Boab Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 RANGERS: The rumours that Barry Ferguson was on his way out of Ibrox last month were rife but, he tells Stewart Fisher, his commitment to the club’s quest for silverware is stronger than ever BARRY FERGUSON wears the demeanour of a man who has recently been reminded of his own mortality. If the captain of Rangers and Scotland had surmised that his exploits for club and country over the last 10 years made him indispensable to the Ibrox cause, he was to have such a notion brutally disabused during the month of January, a traumatic transfer window which saw Newcastle United boss Joe Kinnear have an approach for the player rebuffed and Ferguson's future become a source of renewed speculation as the cash-strapped Glasgow club considered ways to fill their financial black hole. With the player still scratching around for his best form - after missing a full pre-season and the first three months of the campaign to injury - and some fans even espousing the notion that he is an asset who is worth cashing in on, it is with no little relief that Ferguson greeted the closure of the aforementioned window. The 31-year-old spent 18 unhappy months at Blackburn Rovers between 2003 and 2005, and for the avoidance of any doubt, let us just say that he has no desire to leave Rangers for a second time. "I am just glad that the window is shut, like three or four other players," Ferguson said. "Nothing happened, and I am happy with that. Of course I always wanted to stay, why would I want to move? I've got a young family and they are happy and they are settled so there is no reason for me to want to move. Family comes first, and most of the other boys are the same. Everybody wanted to stay. Nobody wanted to leave. That is why we are all still here. "But I take nothing for granted," he added. "Everybody has got a price at every club. Not just us." Ferguson has few rivals in the running for the finest Scottish player of his generation, but a capacity to polarise opinion is also one of his defining characteristics. It seems churlish to complain too much about a player who carried the creative burden so heroically last season, but times are hard at Ibrox, and with 18 months remaining on his £25,000 a week contract, depreciation rather than appreciation seems to be the order of the day. Walter Smith has already admitted that the first-team squad will have to be pared back from 28 players to 20 this summer, and Ferguson will have done well indeed if he can persuade the club to retain his services on the existing terms. "I've got 18 months left and I just want to go and play football," Ferguson said. "I don't want to talk about extending or whatever." The failure to conclude any major player sales during the transfer window may have distressed the club's accountants, but it leaves the Ibrox playing staff looking surprisingly rosy. An Old Firm Co-operative Insurance Cup final is in the pipeline, the next steps towards defending last year's Scottish Cup win can be taken at Forfar this afternoon, and most crucially the seven-point deficit by which the club trailed Celtic after the last Old Firm game has been trimmed to just two. The cash guaranteed by qualification for next season's Champions League may yet offset the fear of swingeing summer cutbacks at Ibrox, but Ferguson's place is threatened more than ever before by a crowded midfield pecking order which includes Pedro Mendes, Steven Davis and Kevin Thomson, and he knows he must do better. "Everybody has got an opinion and it is up to them what they think," Ferguson said. "It doesn't interest me. As long as I am playing and the manager picks me I'll be happy. I am not happy with the way I am playing - you can always improve - but I am still playing catch up. Missing the full pre-season has set me back a long time. I have got to try to do extra after training and try to play catch up because I am miles behind the other guys. "Even the summer is still a few months away; all we are concentrating on is trying to keep winning games and winning trophies," he added. "The Champions League money is what the club relies on. There is no TV money up here, that was a big dent in the coffers and that is what has caused the problem. We have not sold anybody so obviously the chairman has done something to sort the club out. The gaffer has mentioned that the squad is going to be reduced so we will wait and see what happens. But nobody has left apart from a few of the fringe boys who have gone away, and now we can settle and get together again and hopefully get a few trophies. I think it will bring us closer together and I think you will see that in the next few games." http://www.sundayherald.com/sport/shfootba...nt_to_leave.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_glasgow Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 your past it, just leave please. you are milking the club dry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvager Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Barry maybe just needs time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark. Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Barry maybe just needs time. We have given him 3 years, how much more time does he need? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Williamson. Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Barry maybe just needs time. Im taking that as a joke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimjim1690 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Can someone explain to me please, just how long it takes to catch up after having no pre season training, it's fuckin; February now FFS and there's only just over 3 months left of the season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno72 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Barry maybe just needs time. We have given him 3 years, how much more time does he need? That's a lot of sh*te. At times over the last two seasons he's carried the team on his back. Anyone that hasn't seen that hasn't been going to the games i've been going to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaffbear Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 He's had his day,he slows us down and makes us stale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rohan Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 playing catch up If he hasn't caught up yet I don't think it's going to happen.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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